Point Puer, located across the harbour from Port Arthur, was the first boys’ prison in the British Empire.
A brief history
Port Arthur.
Point Puer was established 1834. It was the result of discussions between Lieutenant-Governor Sir George Arthur and Captain Charles O’Hara Booth, the then-commandant of Port Arthur. Its aim was “to train [convict boys] in some useful trade and to reform them so that they would be useful citizens”.
More than 3,000 boys passed through Point Puer during its operation. The prison was closed down on 1st March 1849 because its population was declining.
What sort of boys were sent to Point Puer?
For many of the boys sent to Point Puer, a life of crime had been their only means of survival in Britain.
Some of them were able to take advantage of their new life in Van Diemen’s Land and went on to become skilled tradesmen. But others spent long periods in punishment wards or in gaol, eventually ending up in adult prisons like Port Arthur.
The routine
On weekdays, all the boys at Point Puer who were not under punishment followed a particular routine.
Saturday afternoons were a general holiday.
On Sundays, the boys followed the same routine until breakfast. At 10.30am, they attended a church service. Sunday school was held after lunch. They then had to attend another church service at 6.00pm.
Teaching and trades
The boys at Point Puer were all given basic schooling, religious teaching, and training in a useful trade.
When boys first arrived, they were put into groups to cut wood, clear the land, keep the prison buildings clean, do the laundry, cart water, clear drains, load and unload ships, and generally do all the heavy and unskilled work.
If they behaved well, they could choose a trade to learn. Many of them received training that fitted them well for life in Van Diemen’s Land. Younger boys who served longer apprenticeships fared the best. Older boys, as well as those who misbehaved, probably didn’t receive much useful training.
A convict-made shoe.
Trades taught at Point Puer included:
- carpentry;
- shoemaking;
- tailoring;
- labouring;
- book-binding;
- boat-building; and
- stone masonry.
Breaking the rules
When the boys broke any of Point Puer’s rules, the punishments were tough. Some of the punishments included:
- confinement to the muster ground, no play periods;
- confinement to the cells and the loss of an extra blanket;
- confinement to the cells on bread and water; and
- “stripes on the breech” (a caning on the buttocks).
This was a typical day’s offence list:
Death
Boys who died at Point Puer were buried on the Isle of the Dead, the graveyard of Port Arthur.
Layout of Point Puer
William Champ described Point Puer as “a wretched, bleak barren spot without water, wood for fuel, or an inch of soil…”
The point of land on which Point Puer is located is inaccessible: it has a sixty-foot cliff on its western side; and the currents that swirl around the point and into Opossum Bay are sometimes treacherous. This made it the “perfect” prison. Only three boys successfully escaped from Point Puer.
The prison had simple buildings that were hastily built using handmade bricks. There was no lime in the mortar that was used, so the buildings deteriorated rapidly.
Only a few sketches of the buildings were made before they were demolished. But their architectural plans survive. They’re stored at the Port Arthur Resource Centre and the Tasmanian Archives Office. Many of them were drawn by the convict architect Henry Laing between 1836 and 1837.
The layout of Point Puer. The year in which this sketch was drawn is unknown.
Point Puer today
Today, Point Puer is an archaeological site.
Its buildings were demolished after it closed, so there is little trace of them. Only the underground storerooms remain basically intact.
One of the underground storerooms.
